Adding pictures to models?

SketchUp
1

I am looking for a way to add pictures to a model. I work for an engineer and we are using Sketchup to show models of existing structures and adding pictures showing damage to the structure. We want to be able to fade pictures in and out of the model when we create a video of the model. We don’t want to add the photo to the surface but have it off to the side. We are also looking for a way to do some kind of hyperlink when you click on an object in the model. Is there any way to do this in Sketchup or find a plug-in that does this?

2

If you have SketchUp Pro, you can do dynamic components. Give the component the option to change texture, one blank and one with the picture you want (as a texture). If you just want to show a picture on the side (for a comparison for example), you can import an image as an image and it’ll just be in the model as a flat picture. You can add a hyperlink in the dynamic option as well.

Example:
ECO-CABINET.skp (1.5 MB)
Right click and go to Dynamic Component->Component Options to see some options that have been added.
But again, you need Pro to add dynamic options.

3

Would a screen overlay (watermark) work? You can create screen overlays and save them to a style from the Styles menu.

I attached a quick sample model, if you click between the scenes you will see the overlay image update. I thought the overlay transitions used to be smoother than what I am seeing now… but that might just be my revisionist memory.

overlay_example.skp (486.6 KB)

EDIT → On my Mac running Yosemite, the transitions are harsh but I just tried the same model on a Windows machine and the watermark transitions between scenes has a nice smooth fade in/out as I remember them having.

1 Like
4

cool, i never knew about this. that’s way better than just importing an image and leaving it around.

5

I will give this a try because the component idea is not working for me. Its probably me though.

6

For the Dynamic Component:

  1. Select your group-> Right click and make to component
  2. Right click and go to Dynamic Component->Component Attribute
  3. Add the Attribute: Summary
  4. Copy/Paste this: <$$$a href=“your url”> your text<$$$/a>
    *remove the $$$
7

Links Manager — SketchUp plugin by D. Bur

8

I am also looking to add photos to a 3D model. I would like to place objects (such as little floating camera icons) in the model that a user can click on and open up a photograph that was taken from that vantage point.

I believe that there was a utility that someone had developed for an earlier version of Sketchup (pre-8), but it never worked for me.

1 Like